Carol and Nev
Written and Performed by Phil Ormsby and Alex Ellis
Directed by Caitlin Dullard
‘Come back from the dead to haunt the Campermatic. This is typical of you!’
It’s the great kiwi road trip. Straight down the Island, cross Cook Strait and on to the Bach. Five toilet stops, lunch on the road, sleep on the Ferry and straight on till morning.
Carol & Nev are on the road, taking the family campervan to their daughters wedding at the bay. Only catch is Carol died in 1984.
Nev is comfortable, middle aged and has been resigned to ‘getting on with the business of life’ alone - until now. Has Carol returned from beyond the grave to haunt him for the journey? Or could Nev just be having a nervous breakdown on the eve of the wedding? Is this the beginning or the end? Whatever it is, he has 24 hours to get to his daughters wedding in the family campervan with the ghost of his dead wife trapped inside.
From the creators of Biscuit & Coffee and Murder by Chocolate comes the hilarious road trip of a life time. Set in a van it’s a unique perspective of recent New Zealand history, a tale about the damage time wreaks on youthful ideals and the difference between growing up and giving up.
‘It has been a challenge to create a play set in such close quarters’ says Alex, ‘but from our own experience touring and spending so much time driving, that is often the time when the most enlightening, scary and hilarious conversations take place, when there’s nowhere to hide and no escape!’.
‘Nev! It doesn’t matter! My dream, your nervous breakdown, it’s all the same. Wherever you’re going, I’ll be going with you.’
‘This show is about life’ says Phil ‘so many of us are concerned with ‘the business of life’ we forget to live. This play is about remembering to enjoy it’.
Carol & Nev is the journey of a life time. He must convince her she’s dead, she must convince him he’s alive!
Alex Ellis – Publicist
alex@flaxworks.com
021345784 or 09 8458208
FLAXWORKS
Flaxworks is the creative partnership of Alex Ellis and Phil Ormsby, and is a theatre company committed to produce an extensive portfolio of New Zealand works over the coming years. Accessible theatre, with a distinctive kiwi flavour, that can be toured to both rural centres and cities. Flaxworks is a professional theatre company committed to producing new and original New Zealand work and to develop this reputation both nationally and internationally.
Formed in 2005, to produce and tour their solo comedy Biscuit & Coffee, Flaxworks has since toured their two original productions Biscuit & Coffee and Murder by Chocolate through New Zealand and Australia to over 50 different venues with over 150 performances.
As well as performing on stage, Phil in Murder by Chocolate and Alex in both Biscuit & Coffee and Murder by Chocolate they are also responsible for all production aspects of Flaxworks. Phil has written Biscuit & Coffee, Murder by Chocolate and Carol & Nev and is also responsible for the technical and construction aspects of Flaxworks productions. Alex is producer and publicist, organising and publicising both National tours as well as one off performances and seasons in New Zealand and Australia.
‘Alex Ellis and Phil Ormsby have talent to burn’ - Lumiere